Black Tusk/Dead Yet? - Split 7"

I'm stepping back in time with this one, back to late 2012/early 2013. Two bands from Savannah (Georgia) appeared on a split seven inch together. Both Black Tusk and Dead Yet? were on the Hyperrealist Records roster at the time (home of Kylesa, Baroness, Skeletonwitch and Circle Takes The Square at the time). Black Tusk had already released a couple of albums via Relapse Records by the time this came out, to accompany the tour that both bands were heading out on. It was later released in bigger number in early 2013. Dead Yet?'s hardcore punk was the perfect bedfellow for Black Tusk's sludge and so as well as one original song, both bands covered a song by the other.

1. Black Tusk - Iron Giants
2. Black Tusk - Fearing Your Mind (Dead Yet? Cover)
3. Dead Yet? - Blood & Oil
4. Dead Yet? - Facedriver (Black Tusk Cover)

Black Tusk get their side underway with the unmistakable sound of Georgian sludge. It’s groovy, bluesy and in the case of Iron Giants surprisingly fast. The guitars do most of the work, which drum fills a plenty and sparsely used vocals. It sounds like a darker, less melodic Torche at times and has a big rock n roll edge. They then cover Fearing Your Mind by Dead Yet? and try their hand at a bit of hardcore punk. Fearing Your Mind originally appeared on Dead Yet?’s first album Dissent The End in 2010. It actually fits their sound really well, the murky guitar and bass drives the song forward, the lead features uber flange and the vocal delivery makes it the kind of song that you would move to no matter how serious you were.

Dead Yet are a more melodic proposition in the instrumental department, they eschew sludge for a caustic punk-edged hardcore attack on Blood & Oil, that’s pretty furious. There are hints of the Ramones in there and early hardcore bands like Black Flag. It’s raucous but it still has a hint of Georgian sludge hidden in the tuning. Now it’s Dead Yet’s turn to have a go a covering a Black Tusk song, in the form of Facedriver. Facedriver originally appeared on Black Tusk’s 2007 demo The Fallen Kingdom, but Dead Yet? have chosen to speed it up a little. It’s as in your face as Blood & Oil was and it retains their melodic guitar. It’s over before it’s started but not before you’ve had chance to really lose it.

This split acted as a tour special and it’s a great way for you to check out both bands in one place. The limitations of the 7” format do become apparent in the fact that it’s short in playing time, but it makes up for it in groove and musical skill. It’s well worth tracking down if you can.

The only working stream I've been able to find of this split is over at Invisible Oranges .

In terms of the physical 7", Hyperrealist doesn't seem to active as a record label anymore and their site says that you can buy their records over at Robotic Empire, though they seem to have sold out.
Your best bet is to search distros or even Discogs.

Black Tusk Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/BlackTusk
Dead Yet? Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/deadyetsavannah
Hyperrealist Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hyperrealist